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he government has allocated an additional Rp 15 trillion (US$1.73 billion) for National Program for Community Empowerment (PNPM Mandiri) programs in 2012, a minister says.

Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono said on Wednesday that the government would scale up PNPM Mandiri’s coverage and budget, aiming at achieving national goals and the Millennium Development Goals on poverty reduction.

“We’ve seen the positive impact on community empowerment and poverty alleviation. We will spend an additional Rp 15 trillion on PNPM programs next year,” Agung told journalists after the opening of the 5th China-ASEAN Forum on Social Development and Poverty Reduction.

The government has spent almost Rp 41 trillion on PNPM Mandiri community block grants for 6,622 sub-districts since the program’s inception in 2007.

Agung said the government would prioritize poor and under-developed sub-districts and disaster-affected areas for the additional funds.

“Each eligible sub-district will get between Rp 1 billion to Rp 2 billion in block grants, depending on their needs. Poorer sub-districts and disaster-stricken areas may receive a maximum of Rp 3 billion delivered through the program,” he said, adding that areas in eastern Indonesia would receive up to Rp 3 billion.

The government classifies poverty reduction programs into social protection and assistance programs, such as rice for poor families (Raskin); community initiatives, such PNPM Mandiri; micro- and small enterprise initiatives; and assistance programs for less-developed areas and local communities, such as fishermen and marginalized urban groups.

“In any effort to increase the quality of our economic growth, we should formulate not only a good macro-economy, but also social protection policies,” Agung said.

A good macroeconomic policy would help Indonesia strengthen and sustain economic growth, Agung said, while social protection programs would ensure that the poor could participate in growth creation.

“These [...] programs are relevant to ensuring that inclusive growth or high quality growth is achieved,” he said.

During the meeting, delegations from China and ASEAN member nations will share experience and expertise on how to improve economic growth and reduce poverty.

“We want to take a lesson learned from China, since it has succeeded in lowering its poverty rate to 2.8 percent by applying not only a robust concept for greater macroeconomic stability but also various social interventions.”

Many people living in countries with robust economic growth cannot benefit from the fruits of growth, hampered by inequalities in education, social security, healthcare and wealth distribution.

Despite an average annual economic growth rate of 10 percent, China has taken years to deliver inclusiveness of economic growth.

Fan Xiaojian, the minister of China’s State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Reduction and Development, said that in the early 1980s, China lifted about 17 million people out of poverty shortly after it implemented policies on economic reform and openness.

However progress slowed starting from the mid-1980s until the end of the 1990s, when China lifted only an average of 6 million people a year out of poverty.

China, however, has stepped into a new phase of poverty reduction after implementing China Rural Area Poverty Alleviation and Development Outline 2001-2010 during the past decade.